Suki
by NakagosEvilSister
Summary: This is an OC story, mixing up itachi's past. Will contain spoilers later on! . R R please!
1. Of Balance and Demon Foxes

Suki

Suki

Of balance and demon foxes.

In the village hidden in the leaves, there used to be a large and powerful clan. This clan was known for producing many powerful ninja. It stood above the rest due to its member's bloodline limit, which gave them a boost during battle, and made them almost unbeatable. This clan was renowned in the leaf village, and was even known in the other hidden villages around the world.

The Uchiha clan…

One of the members of this clan was Uchiha Itachi. A boy of six years old, with long charcoal hair tied back in a ponytail and eyes the colour of stone, he was a child prodigy. Already a genin, he was one of the youngest ever to make ninja.

On the other end of the scale completely was the Bōei clan. They were hardly known at all, and were few in number because the gene that gave its members the bloodline was recessive. This meant that it was rare to get the bloodline, even in the Bōei family.

A member of this clan was Bōei Sukiyo. Also six years old, she was just starting in the ninja academy. Short with long chocolate hair and jade green eyes, she looked unremarkable, plain even, just another child trying to be a ninja…

Suki yawned. She was bored with being in class, listening to her sensei blather on about how to keep your balance while jumping fast. Although it was something she needed to learn, Suki just wasn't in the mood. She gazed lazily out of the window watching some birds in the forest fly up in alarm at something. She yawned again.

"Sukiyo, I said; are you listening!?" asked a rather bothered looking dog-nin. Suki turned her head to look at her teacher; a highly-strung chuunin called Inuzuka Ashi.

"Yeah Ashi-sensei!" she answered hastily.

"Oh, then what did I just say?" Ashi asked slyly, knowing the child wouldn't be able to answer. The dog that laid by the door lifted its head, listening to the conversation. It was a large tan coloured dog, that slobbered a lot and looked menacing, but most of the time was completely harmless. The children had to step over him to get out of the classroom at the end of the day.

"Eh… I can't wemember sensei" Suki said sheepishly

"And why's that Sukiyo?" Ashi pressed.

"Because I wasn't listenin' sensei…" Suki said, blushing.

"I know Sukiyo" Ashi smiled, and the class laughed, the dog by the door wagged his tail "so who can tell Sukiyo what I said?"

Instantly a hand at the front of the class shot up, and the class groaned, the dog putting his great head back onto his paws.

"She SAID," the owner of the hand began, looking smugly up at Suki, who sat up a few rows back, "that your balance receptors are in your ears, so some ninja may target your ears…"

While saying this, he never took his eyes from Suki.

"You get it this time Sukiyo?" Ashi sensei asked

"Hai, sensei!" Suki said as her teacher turned back to the blackboard. Suki took this opportunity to stick her tongue out at the boy in the front row.

The boys name was Sarumaru, after the third Hokage himself. He was a boy with glasses and a mop of straw-coloured hair. He smirked at her. Sarumaru was ALWAYS trying to one up Suki. He was lots smarter than her, a fact he told her often, but lacking in physical ability. Suki always told him that he was slower than a snail carrying four bags of heavy shopping. And she was pretty much right, he was slow in the practice races and such, but his brain was sharper than a newly grinded axe.

Later that day, as class ended and the children were stepping over the dog, Sarumaru fell into step with Suki as they exited the room.

Sarumaru sighed. "You handed me that win Suki-chan" he said as he looked sideways at her

"No way," Suki replied, "She got me off guard!"

"Coming to the secret place?" Sasumaru asked her, even though that's where they were headed anyway, following some of the other children through a hole in the wall of Konoha.

"Yeah, and I'm gonna kick yer butt t'day, Saru-kun!" she grinned at him.

"In your dreams!" Sarumaru grinned back.

The little group of children were now following the Konohan outer wall around to where there was a forest clearing. They weren't really supposed to be out of the village, but they were kids, and didn't really care.

The clearing now in view, Suki could see that there already seemed to be some children there; older kids, of about seven or so.

"Gah, those baka's are back!" Suki said to Sarumaru

"Yeah I see 'em" Sarumaru said back, a frown on his face.

One of the children ahead of Suki and Sarumaru, a boy named Hachi, ran forward to confront the older kids.

"Oi, I thought we turfed you baka's outta here here last week!?" Hachi asked with menace.

One of the older children narrowed her eyes at Hachi.

"Yeah, right, like you little kids could get rid of us" she told the now growling Hachi.

"Be careful Hachi-kun!" Suki shouted to her friend as she ran to his side, "but I thought you guys didn't wanna be here anyway?"

One of the seven year olds looked at Suki sheepishly "I tried to stop 'em Suki-san…"

Suki looked at the boy who had spoken. He was a little short for his age and had his brunette hair up in a high ponytail.

"eeeh, it's alright Iruka-kun" Suki said to while turning back to the girl who had spoken before. "So, what 'appened to yer 'Roof Top Paradise', eh?"

The girl, whose name was Yukihime, frowned at Suki.

"Oh that dump, we're too good for that place now." Yukihime said her frown turning into a sneer.

"You mean you got told off for being there." Sarumaru told the girl, his trademark knowing grin on his face.

Yukihime's sneer wavered.

"N-no," she said as she tried to regain her self, "we just got sick 'o it!"

"Yeah right," Hachi and Suki said together.

"So, we gonna get this on or not?" said another seven year old, a boy called Hige. He was stood beside Yukihime but a little in front of Iruka, who had retreated upon hearing Hige's words.

Suki and Hachi tensed up a little, they knew they couldn't defeat the older children; they were not only bigger but had more ninja training than them, and so were faster and stronger. They had only won last time thanks to Iruka. He'd been hit accidentally in the battle with a stone, and had needed to go to the nurse. Therefore, the younger children had won.

Hige stooped to pick a handful of mud from the ground, and all the children were on tenterhooks, waiting for the first shot to be thrown.

When suddenly there was a rumble from deep in the forest.

All the children turned to look for the source of the noise, but could see nothing.

"What the heck?" Asked Hachi, saying what all the kids were thinking

"What was that?" Asked Yukihime, looking into the shadowy depths beyond the clearing, but seeing nothing.

Again, there was a rumble, louder this time, closer.

The children stood in silence, waiting, when the ground began to shake, a little at first, but then more fiercely.

"An earthquake!?" Iruka said as he tried to keep his balance.

"Look at that!" exclaimed Sarumaru, pointing to a large shape in the distance, getting bigger at the same rate as the shaking was getting worse.

Suki followed his point to see a large rusty orange shape. "A… fox?" she asked

"Yeah… that's what it looks like," confirmed Hige, "look behind it though, are they… tails?"

Yukihime narrowed her eyes, "I count… eight, no nine!"

"Nine tails!?" asked Iruka

Suddenly around fifty ninja flew over the children's heads, towards the fox

"Was that the Yondaime!?" Said Hachi in awe

"Yeah I think it was!" Hige answered, "Come on, let's go see!"

"No way!" said one of the other older children, and there was a murmur of agreement "I'm going home!"

He and the rest of the seven year olds and six year olds took off back through the hole in the wall.

Now all who were left was Suki, Yukihime, Sarumaru, Hige, Hachi and Iruka.

"W-what, no we can't, we might get hurt!" Iruka protested.

"Stay here then, Dolphin-boy!" Hige said as he ran into the forest, Suki on his heels.

"Guys!" Suki heard Iruka call as she ran behind Hige, she could also hear Sarumaru puffing as he tried to keep up, and Yukihime's light steps somewhere behind her.

Eventually Iruka caught up, but spent the whole run telling them about how they all were going to get hurt, and that if the Hokage was involved, that it must be really dangerous.

He was ignored, although the children should have listened to him.

The kids got to an area of forest that had broken trees everywhere, and three dead ninja.

One had been torn apart, so he was only a torso, while another was impaled on a tree branch and the last crushed under a fallen tree.

Suki gasped.

"T-they're…" she heard Yukihime try to say

"Dead…" Sarumaru breathed.

The children looked at each other, for the first time wondering what they had gotten themselves into…

"I told you!" Iruka said in distress, clearly on the verge of tears

Suki looked in the direction of the now killer fox.

"We… should turn back," she said

Hige looked alarmed

"No way," he said defiantly, "we're ninja, we're gonna have to see dead bodies at some point, these ninja probably just sucked!"

With that, he ran into the forest in the direction of the fox.

"Hige!" Yukihime called after him, "HIGE!"

She began to run, still calling his name, into the forest after him

"W-we can't let them go!" Hachi said, a little unsure

"No we can't…" Suki said, looking at her friends, before running after Hige and Yukihime, Hachi, Sarumaru and a now crying Iruka behind her.

They ran, but saw no sign of Yukihime or Hige, but the shaking had gotten much worse.

Soon they could also hear shouting from up ahead and then, an ear-splitting roar.

The children, although fearing for their own lives, kept running, desperate to find the two missing seven year olds.

Suddenly, they burst out of the trees and bushes into a clearing, where they got their first look at a sight they would never forget.

There were ninja everywhere, and quite a few of them were dead in heaps on the ground. And, as Suki looked up, she could see the source of this terror; a massive demon fox, its nine tails waving as it tore up trees and crushed both ninja and boulders alike.

As the children stood on the edge of all this destruction, Iruka gave a squeak, causing Suki to tare her eyes away from the fox and to two small figures near the fox's feet.

"That's them!" Sasumaru shouted, causing Iruka to run out onto the battle field. The younger kids watched as he dodged flying boulders, and ducked under speeding kunai. Finally he had reached his friends, only to seemingly collapse.

Without a second thought the younger ones tried to run to his side, following the same path he had.

"Saru-kun!" Suki screamed as Sarumaru was struck by a wayward shuriken. She tried to double back, to reach her fallen friend, but was blocked by another child.

With tear filled eyes she looked up at the boy blocking her. He looked about her age, and had long charcoal hair tied in a ponytail, and eyes like bottomless pits; a black that seemed to go on forever.

This new child stared back at Suki, before grabbing her by the hand and pulling her towards the edge of the battlefield.

"No, my friends, let me go, I need to help them!" she screamed as she struggled, trying to prise his hand from her wrist. The boy merely pulled her harder.

In desperation, she looked back towards the terror she was now being forced to leave, and saw that the battlefield had now cleared, apart from one man, who stood facing the enraged fox.

Completely engrossed in the man on the battlefield, Suki had stopped struggling, and the boy, feeling this, looked back, and saw the man.

"The Yondaime…" Suki heard him whisper, and she looked at him before looking back at the man.

"The forth Hokage?" Suki narrowed her eyes, and studied the man. He had blonde hair, and his Hokage cloak was blowing in the wind. It was indeed the Yondaime.

Suki and the boy watched as the Yondaime started performing hand signs and then bend down as if to touch the floor.

Suki gasped as she saw smoke billow and then clear to show a huge toad, the Hokage stood upon its massive head.

About a minute elapsed, with nothing happening; the fox and the toad stared at each other, sizing each other up. Then, there was a bright flash of light, causing Suki to grab the boys hand in fear, she shut her eyes and waited for a death that wouldn't come. She stood, shaking as silence enveloped the battlefield.

Slowly, she opened her eyes, only to see that the fox, the toad and the Yondaime were gone, replaced by an unnatural stillness in the air.

Suki sensing the danger had passed tried to run out into the massive clearing left by the Fox, to try to find her missing friends, but as soon as she tried to move, she began to feel dizzy, and the ground rushed up to meet her…


	2. Of Uchiha's and a funeral

Suki

Suki

Of Uchihas and a fueral…

_Suki ran through the forest, the Fox chasing her. "Help!" She shouted, "Help me!"_

_As she ran, she felt her legs getting sluggish, and then she found that she could run no longer, she fell to the floor, and the Fox leered over her, seemingly grinning with it's thousands of sharp, blood-drenched teeth. Suki screamed as the Fox loomed over her, and then brought its great fearful head down to finish her off…_

Suki shot up in bed, sweat pouring off her; she was soaked to the bone.

Breathing heavily, she franticly looked about the room for the fox, and then, realising there was none, calmed down.

She now studied the room she appeared to be in.

It seemed to be a hospital room, with a vase of pink and yellow flowers on the windowsill, the window wide open and the white net curtains flowing in a light breeze. She was sat in a bed with pristine white sheets, although they were quite damp. Next to the bed was a stool, with what appeared to be her clothes on it.

At that moment, the door opened, and a nurse walked in.

"Ah, you're awake!" the nurse exclaimed with a wide smile, "You've been asleep for two days now"

"T-two days, what ha-" Suki started, before all of the memories came flooding back to her, "what happened to my friends, and what was that fox, and where's the Hokage, he just disappeared, and who was that strange boy!?"

The nurse suddenly looked downcast.

"I-I think you better come with me…" the nurse said as she turned towards the door.

Suki leapt out of the bed and threw her clothes on, before catching up with the departing nurse.

As they walked through the hospital, they passed wards filled with injured ninja, until they reached a door.

The nurse opened the door, and there was Hachi looking unharmed, Sasumaru with his leg in plaster, and-

"Hige-kun!"

They all turned at the sudden shout, and their faces lit up to see Suki.

"Suki-chan!" they chorused together, and she ran to embrace them, her eyes welling up to see them well.

"Wait…" she said, "where's Yukihime?"

Suddenly all the boys faces turned sour.

"N-no…" Suki breathed, guessing what their grim faces ment, "s-she?"

Sarumaru nodded, while Hige's face contorted into a snarl.

"I'll get that fox for what he did to Yuki-chan!" He vowed, "I'll get him!"

"And Iruka-kun?"

"His mom and dad both died!" Hige said, his face still a mask of bitterness.

Suki turned to the nurse, only to see that she'd left.

"So what happened?" Suki asked

"Didn't you see!?" Replied Hachi,

"See what?" Suki asked confused

"The Yondaime made this big light!" Hachi filled her in, "but he's gone too…"

"G-gone?"

"My mom said he killed himself to save us all" Hige told her.

Suki began to cry, the tears came and wouldn't stop; Sarumaru put his arm around her.

"W-what… what about that boy?" She tried to say between sniffs

"Boy?" Asked Sarumaru

"The one who saved me…"

The boys all looked at one-another.

"You were already here when we got here Suki-chan," Hachi said, "so we don't know about this 'boy' who saved you"

Suki rose. Now that she knew her friends were ok, well most of them anyway, she had to find this boy. Maybe it was the grief, she didn't care, she needed a purpose to keep her mind off of the fact her rival had died and that Iruka had lost his family, and it was her fault, as she saw it.

The other children looked at Suki; her sudden rising had taken them all by surprise.

"Maybe that nurse will know," She said blandly, before turning and walking out the door. She was so fixated on finding this nurse she didn't even hear the boys calling her back.

She walked briskly through the hospital, looking for this nurse, she had no idea where she was going, and she just let her feet take her.

After a time, she noticed she was back by the room she had woken up in. Shrugging, she entered; perhaps the boy had left her something to remember him by.

Looking around the room, it was exactly the same as when she'd been led out by that nurse this morning; the flowers were still on the windowsill, the curtains still blowing in the breeze, and looking up at the clock above the door it was obvious why, it had only been half an hour since she was in here last.

She checked on the bedside table, and around the bed, but could find nothing. And for some reason she felt a little angry at this.

Why hadn't he left his name, or at least something to let her know who he was?

At that moment, the door opened again, and Suki's family entered.

Upon seeing Suki, the family rushed at her and embraced her tightly, even her elder brother, Hayashi, clung to her.

"We were so worried, Suki!" Her mother said "how could you run out into the battlefield like that!?"

Suki merely hiccupped in reply.

"Yeah, idiot!" Hayashi said, punting her on the head

"It was such a silly thing to do!" Her mother continued, "You could have been killed!"

"Yeah, Dummy!" Her brother said, punting her again

Suki was beginning to blank them out when her father said something she wanted to hear.

"It's a good job that Uchiha boy stopped you!" He said

Suki was now listening fully

"An Uchiha?" Suki said, "It was an Uchiha that saved me?"

"Yes, and it's a good thing to-" Her father continued before being interrupted by a now frantic Suki

"What was his name, daddy!?"

"His name?"

"Uh-huh!"

"Oh, I don't know, dear." her father said exasperated "I just know he was an Uchiha"

"An Uchiha…" Suki said under her breath…

Soon the hospital discharged Suki, as there was nothing wrong with her, and it was time for the forth Hokage's funeral.

The whole village was in mourning, and every person, civilian and ninja alike, had turned out, dressed all in black, for the Yondaime's funeral.

Suki stood mid crowd, next to Hayashi and the rest of her family, with Sarumaru, his leg still plastered up, on her other side.

The funeral precession had begun, with the Yondaime's closest family and friends stood near the front, as they looked at the photos of all the ninja that had died in the attack, they walked forward and laid white flowers down near the photograph of the Yondaime and near another photograph if they were close to that person too. Iruka's parents were there, as was Yukihime, and at least 25 other ninja, all having died in the fox attack.

Soon it was Suki's turn, and she laid one flower in the already huge bunch next to the Yondaime, she also laid one next to Yukihime and two more next to Iruka's parents, she didn't really know Iruka's parents but her mom had told her it would be respectful to Iruka's loss to give them flowers too, so she did.

She cried as she walked away from the photographs and back to where they were stood before. He brother put his arm around her, and as she looked up into his face, she saw he was crying too, in fact, as she looked around the gathering, she could she that most of the people were crying freely, openly showing grief for those they had lost…

The funeral had ended and everyone was leaving, most still in floods of tears. It was quite late now and Suki's father was carrying her home, as she looked sleepily over his shoulder at the ninja walking behind her, she thought she could see a large group of ninja that had black hair.

"Daddy…?" she asked sleepily.

"Yes, Suki-chan?" He said.

"Why do all those ninja over there look the same?" She said pointing towards the group.

Her father turned a little so he could look with out disrupting the crowd.

"Those are the Uchiha clan dear, one of the strongest clans in the whole village" He replied

"Like the boy who saved me, daddy?" She asked

"Yes, the boy who saved you was an Uchiha, thank God; otherwise we might have been at your funeral"

Suki kept looking at the Uchiha's, looking for that boy, but she couldn't see him, there were too many Uchiha and she was too tiered to look properly.

She yawned and rested her head back on her father's shoulder, quickly falling to sleep…


	3. Of Training and clearings

Suki

Suki

Of training and clearings…

A few weeks passed and the village had returned to normal, after all life still goes on, well that's what Suki's mother had told her when she had asked why no-one was crying anymore.

Suki was outside of the house, as it was a Saturday and there was no school.

She was sat against the wall, a flower in her hands, twirling it around between her fingers, admiring the way it blurred when she span it fast enough.

It was beginning to get cold outside now, as it was the beginning of September, and every now and then, a great gust of wind would come, chilling Suki to the bone.

One such gust came now, and Suki shivered, but stayed outside.

She didn't want to be in there, as her parents were fighting again, something they had started to do quite a lot. It worried Suki, as sometimes it would be over her brother and her.

She flinched as something smashed and there was yet more shouting, hugging her knees, she tried to block it out.

Hayashi had already left the house to escape the constant noise, and was off in the village somewhere with his friends.

Hayashi was quite a bit older than Suki, at ten, he understood more about what was happening than Suki did, and had understood more about the fox attack too, but none the less he still was a child, and had ran from the house.

Something else smashed and Suki could take it no more. She rose and ran out into the village on the brink of tears.

As she ran, she just let her legs take her wherever they wanted, and soon found herself next to the hole in the Konohan wall. Unsure whether to go through or not, as none of the children had been out here since the attack, she looked around to see if anyone could see her, and, upon seeing no one, she shrugged and climbed through the hole.

On the other side, she had expected to see some sort of horror, but everything was normal, as if the attack had never happened, the birds were still singing, and a rabbit jumped out of the bushes.

As her mother had said, life still goes on.

Suki started to walk to the clearing where they used to play, when she heard a strange thudding from the other side of some trees.

Fearful, she wondered whether to look or not, the attack still fresh in her mind after all. Soon though her curiosity got the better of her and she slowly crept through the trees.

As she reached the other side, she saw another clearing, this one smaller than hers, but better hidden.

And in the middle of this clearing was a boy.

Suki recognised him immediately. It was the boy who'd had saved her from the fox!

He appeared to be throwing kunai at an upright log in the centre of the clearing and as Suki watched, she could see he didn't miss once.

She wanted to go to him, to tell him thanks for saving her life, but for some reason she couldn't, so she just sat, for hours, watching the young Uchiha train.

Soon the sun began to set, and Suki thought she'd better creep away, lest her parents worry.

So back through the bushes she went, and then though the hole in the wall. She ran as fast as her little legs would take her back to the Bōei compound, where her brother was at the gate looking out for her.

"Suki-chaaaaan!" He waved when he saw her coming, "you're late, baka!"

"Heh heh, yup" she smiled back at him, feeling in a better mood than she had since before the attack.

Hayashi smiled back at her, happy to see his sister had cheered up.

They both entered the house together, happy, at least for a while.

In the coming weeks, Suki went to school with a newfound gusto, she had decided to be as good as that boy in the clearing, so one day they could train together, and maybe even do missions and save lives together!

She listened to her Sensei much more now, and got more and more questions right, and even began to rival Sarumaru in her cleverness, although he was still the smarter ninja.

"Sukiyo," Ashi began one day at the end of class, "you've improved so much, but I wonder, why the sudden interest?"

Ashi had began to suspect the child of wanting revenge on the fox, as she knew one of Suki's friends from another class was training extra hard for that very reason, and Ashi thought it was most unhealthy.

"Because I want to train with someone sensei" Suki smiled.

Ashi was taken aback; this was not the explanation she was expecting.

"Train with someone, Sukiyo?" She asked

"Hai, Ashi-sensei!" The child smiled again, "I wanna be strong, just like him, but if I don't get strong, I won't be able to train with him in the clearing sensei, because I'll just hold him back!"

Ashi looked down on the little girl whom had never before shown much interest in being a strong ninja, who was only at the academy because her parents had sent her like most clans do, with out consulting the child.

"So you don't hate the Fox, Sukiyo?" Ashi confirmed.

"Iie, sensei. The fox killed my friend but its gone now sensei, so I don't wanna get it" Suki said with a wide-eyed innocence.

Ashi looked surprised at the little girl, who's reasoning was so wise, wiser than some of the adult ninja who had also sworn revenge on the fox.

"Hige-kun, is just silly sensei," the wise child continued, "he can't get the Fox; it's gone, why keep fighting it?"

Ashi smiled at the child, some of the Jounin could stand to learn a thing or two from that, she thought.

"Very well, Sukiyo, you can go" Ashi told Suki with a grin.

Suki turned and stepped over the dog laid by the door, and out into the corridor, where would have been waiting, if he hadn't gone to get the plaster on his leg removed today, and so couldn't wait for Suki.

Suki didn't want to play anyway, she was going to the forest clearing to watch the boy again…


	4. Of snow and goodbyes

Suki

Suki

Of snow and goodbyes…

A few weeks later, in late December, snow was falling as Suki came home from school. She reached the Bōei compound to see her mother, father and brother waiting for her.

"Ohayo!" she waved as she reached them, only to see her brother was crying and her parent's smiles were rather forced.

"Suki-chan," her mother began, "your daddy and I are… going to live in different places from now on"

Suki looked confused.

"Why mommy?" she asked

"Because we… don't love each other anymore, Suki-chan" Her father said

"So you are going to stay here with me, Suki-chan, and Hayashi and your daddy are going to live somewhere else" her mother tried to smile.

Suki didn't understand really, but she understood enough to know her brother didn't like it. Therefore, she didn't like it either.

"No, I want you to stay here!" Suki said, pointing to her father, while clinging to her brother.

"Oh, Suki-chan dear, you'll still see Hayashi and I" Her father tried to settle her, "just not as much"

Suki began to cry, along with her brother, and her mother bent down to pick her up.

"Don't worry, Suki-chan, we'll go see them lots!" she said

"Really, mommy?" Suki said, sniffing.

"Uh-huh!" her father smiled at her, "and we'll come over here lots too, so you be a good girl, and don't cry, okay?"

Suki sniffed.

"Okay then daddy, I'll be a good girl…" she smiled a little through her tears.

The next day Suki went to school as usual, and the day after that too.

And everything was fine, until she got home, then she'd really miss her brother and father, there was no-one to play with, no father to put her on his shoulders and run with her, no brother to punt her on the head and call her a baka, and soon Suki couldn't take it anymore.

So she ran.

Suki ran as fast as she could, to the only place she knew she wouldn't be found.

She reached the clearing quickly, and couldn't hear her parents searching for her. She sat down in her usual spot, and without even looking to see if the boy was in the clearing, she cried her little heart out.

After a little while, she looked over at the clearing, to see if the boy was there, and nearly jumped out of her skin to see him stood right in front of her, looking down into her tear-stained face.

Suki sniffed and wiped her eyes, and returned the stare he was giving her.

"You back here again?" He said finally, and Suki jumped again, she hadn't known he'd seen her here before, "why do you keep coming?"

"B-because, I wanna b-be strong, like you…" she sniffed again.

"Why?" he asked, he appeared to be a straight-to-the-point sort of person

"So I can save people, like you!" She grinned through her tears, before wiping her nose on her sleeve.

"Hn." He said, before walking back out to the log in the clearing. Suki, not wanting to be alone, ran after him.

Suki stood in the snow for a while, silent, while he went back to training with the log, Suki still occasionally sniffing. She was about to say something when-

"Why you crying anyway?" He asked, giving her a sideways glance, while sending a kick at the battered log.

"Because my daddy don't want me no more!" Suki said, bursting into a fresh wave of tears, "Him and Hayashi are gonna go live somewhere else, without me and mommy!"

The boy stopped attacking the wooden target and looked at Suki, who was shivering and crying in the falling snow, he had thought she was crying over something silly, like loosing her doll or something, but this really was something to be upset by.

"I've been a good girl, why is he leaving me!?" she cried, obviously needing someone to pour her heart out to, "I didn't cry, I was a good girl!"

Suki, in her tears, sunk to the ground, and sat on her haunches

Not knowing exactly what to do, the boy sat down next to her, and watched her cry. He felt he should say something, but didn't know what. Maybe he should put his arm around her, he thought, but felt this would be pointless, as what would that do to help?

Suddenly the little girl cried more loudly and violently, now she was more screaming than sobbing.

"It's 'cos I let Yukihime die, daddy don't want me 'cos I'm a bad ninja, I'm not strong enough!" she wailed, "I tried to save her, daddy, I did!"

The boy suddenly grabbed the little girl and pulled her towards him, hugging her little frame to him "it's not your fault, you tried to save her, your father's just being dumb if he's leaving you because of that" he told her.

Suki sniffed again, the sudden hug had surprised her, and she had stopped screaming, "then why's he leaving me!?" she asked, preparing her self to launch back into screams again.

"It's not you he's leaving," the boy said, still holding Suki to him, "sometimes people just stop loving each other"

"Why?" she asked, now listening to him fully, keeping her mind off her grief.

"I don't know, maybe it's when they meet someone they think they love, but don't" he said.

"Does that mean daddy thought he loved me, but don't?" Suki asked, her lip quivering.

"No," the boy said quickly, "it means your mother probably." He wasn't going to lie to her, and feed her some story, he felt the little girl should know.

"So it's mommy's fault?" The girl asked him now.

"It's both of their faults, for marrying someone they don't really love," He said, looking away from the girl.

They were both silent for a while, but the little girl didn't let him go, and she was still shaking from her violent crying, so he let her cling a little longer.

"I never wanna do that…" The girl said suddenly said, "It hurts too much"

The boy looked at her, and nodded.

Suki let him go, and stood up, she was soaking wet from the snow that was still falling, and it was now very dark.

They boy stood up too, he was in the same wet condition.

"What's your name anyway?" he asked, giving her a sideways glance.

"Bōei Sukiyo!" Suki said, smiling through what was left of her tears, "What's your name?"

"Uchiha Itachi…" He answered.

"I'm real sorry Itachi-san!" she said suddenly, looking away from him

"Hn?" he said, turning to look at her.

"I wasted all your training time!" she said, looking sheepish.

"It's fine." He said, looking away from her again.

Suki looked around, suddenly realising how dark it was.

"Eeeh! I better go home, mommy and dadd-" she stopped short, realising that her father wouldn't be there.

She stood in silence, with a forlorn look on her face, and looked like she was about to start crying again.

"Come on" Itachi said suddenly, making her jump. Grabbing her hand, he pulled her from the clearing, "don't be crying again!"

Suki giggled as Itachi pulled her back through the hole in the wall and along the street, and again as she had to give him directions as to which way to go.

"Fine, walk your self home!" He blushed as she told him he'd gone the wrong way, again.

"Oh come on Itachi-san, its not far now!" she said, now pulling him along, giggling again.

They soon reached the Bōei compound where her mother ran to embrace her, saying something about how worried she and Suki's father had been.

Said father came running around the corner at the top of the street, evidentially having heard from one of the villagers that they had seen Suki heading this way.

As soon as he got to her, he lifted her up had hugged her, going on about how it wasn't Suki's fault he was leaving, and that he still loved her.

"I know daddy!" Suki interrupted, grinning from ear to ear, causing her parents to look at her in surprise, "Itachi-san told me!"

Neither of the parents had noticed the boy until now, and both looked at him questionably.

"Hey, you're the boy who saved Suki-chan from the fox!" Suki's father said.

"Uh-huh," Suki confirmed, "Itachi-san looked after me today too!"

Suki's mother looked to Itachi.

"Thank you, Itachi-kun, for looking out for Suki-chan," she said, and Itachi blushed a little and turned away.

"Won't your mommy and daddy be worried, huh Itachi-san?" Suki asked him, from her father's arms.

"Hai," Itachi said, bowing a little, "I'd better go"

And with that he jumped to the rooftops, and away toward the Uchiha compound.

"Bai Bai, Itachi-saaaaan!" Suki waved, smiling as he disappeared…


	5. Of sickness and a bad part of town

Suki

Suki

Of sickness and wooden dummies …

Every day after that, after playing a little with her friends after school, she'd run to the clearing, where she knew Itachi would be training, and she'd sit out of his way, in a tree or something, just watching him train, and then, when it began to get dark, he'd walk her home.

One day Suki came running into the clearing to find Itachi, only to see him slumped against the training dummy.

"Itachi-san!" Suki exclaimed, running towards him. She knelt down beside him and looked into his face; he was pale and drawn, his breath coming out in gasps and pants. "Itachi-san... what's wrong, you sick?"

She put her hand to his forehead, as she had seen her mother do, but wasn't really sure what she was feeling for.

"You're hot, Itachi-san…"

Itachi opened his eyes and peered up into her face. "Hn."

"You sick Itachi-san?" She asked him again, not sure of what to do.

He sighed and looked away from her, deliberating what to do.

"My mommy says being sick is bad Itachi-san, maybe you should go home?" She said and he looked at her again.

He nodded and tried to get up, but failed, sinking back onto the snowy grass.

"You need help?" Suki asked, getting up. She stood in front of him and put her arms out, "grab on Itachi-san, and I'll pull you up!"

He put his arms out, but looked away from her embarrassed.

She took hold of him, and pulled with all her might. He was soon on his feet, but wobbly.

"Can you walk, Itachi-san?" she asked.

"Hn…" He tried to take a step forward, but lost his balance and Suki had to grab him.

"No then" she said, holding him up.

Itachi sighed and put his arm around her shoulders, leaning on her heavily. Suki held him up as best she could and began to walk slowly forward.

They shuffled through the snowy clearing, heading for the hole in the wall, but as they reached it Suki saw a problem; "how're we gonna get through?"

"You go through first… and pull me through" Itachi said, making Suki jump. It was the first thing he'd really said.

She did as he bade, and clambered through the hole, leaving him leaning on the wall. She turned to him once she was through, and saw him with one foot on the base of the hole trying to pull himself through. She stepped forward and grabbed his hands, pulling him forward, and at last, they were back in the village.

They walked the backstreets, Suki taking directions from Itachi, having never been to the Uchiha compound before, and it seemed Itachi didn't want to take the main roads.

"Left" he said as they reached a crossroads, Suki nodded and lead them left.

They met hardly anyone on these streets, as most people were still on the main streets shopping and the like at this hour. Those they did see just gave a questioning look and kept walking; Suki wondered why no one was bothering to help them.

"This isn't a good part of town," Itachi said suddenly when yet another person had walked past, earning a funny look from Suki.

"Don't mean they have to be mean," said Suki under her breath.

Itachi smiled to himself; Suki really could be naïve.

Eventually they reached a large pair of closed gates, the Uchiha insignia proudly in the centre.

Suki looked to Itachi and then to the bell pull. She was far too short to reach it, and she couldn't jump over the walls with Itachi clung to her.

Itachi sighed, extracted himself from Suki and hobbled over to the bell pull. He was too short to reach it too, but he kicked off the wall and leapt at the pull. He hung there a little before letting go and fell to a heap on the ground.

Suki was in awe, that he could still do things like that in the state he was in. She ran to him and helped him back up, as in the distance she could hear a bell ringing.

They were stood a little while, and Suki was worried that she would have to try to reach the pull, obviously, Itachi couldn't do it again.

She glanced sideways at him; he looked as if he was going to be sick.

All of a sudden, the doors opened to reveal a teenage girl with long black hair, not very busty, but still stunning, although she did have a rather cold look in her dark eyes. Suki was amazed at how much she looked like the boy at her side.

"What have you done Itachi?" the girl said, unlike Itachi she had a drawl to her voice that made Suki dislike her instantly.

"Hn…" Itachi said in answer, looking away from the girl, as if being sick was an embarrassment.

The girl turned her back on the children and walked away. Suki was unsure and looked at Itachi, he nodded, and she followed the girl.

As Suki stepped into the compound, and gasped in awe.

It was huge, with many old buildings, the type with sliding paper doors and shiny wooden floors. Suki could just imagine people training in those buildings, or praying to shrines.

Still they followed the girl. She seemed to be heading to the biggest building of all, in the centre of all the others.

The girl had gone inside, leaving the sliding door open behind her.

Using the same method they used to get through the hole, Suki helped Itachi up onto the decking that surrounded the house.

She peered into the room beyond the paper door, there sat a woman, holding a baby. The woman was talking to the teenage girl, but soon spotted Suki peering in.

"Itachi." The woman said, "What have you done?"

Suki lead Itachi into the room, slipping off her shoes in the process, and sat him against one of the beams that supported the house.

The woman with the baby rose and, ignoring Suki completely, put her hand to Itachi's forehead.

"You have a fever" she said, "go to bed"

And with that, she sat back in the centre of the room, and looked back at the baby in her arms.

Suki looked from the woman to Itachi, and then to the girl who was still stood, and then back to Itachi again.

Itachi looked back at her this time, so Suki stood in front of him and pulled him up, he lent back on her yet again, and said in an undertone "to the left".

Suki did as he directed and shuffled to the left, she could see a hallway, and soon they were making their way down it.

He nodded to a door at the far end of the hall and as they reached it, Suki opened the sliding door and together they entered.

The room was quite large, with little furniture but for a bed and a dresser.

She lead Itachi to the bed, and kicked back the sheets. Slowly the lowered him into it, and sighed as she sat next to him, and he looked at her.

"Thanks… Sukiyo-san"


End file.
